I had taken a piece of round steak out of the freezer this morning with no clear idea of what I was going to do with it.  When I got to work, we had the BBC playing on the radio and the idea of making pasties came to me.   Gee.  I wonder where that idea came from?!?

But pasties were on the mind and, I figured I had the ingredients at home.  I love not having to shop.

Pasties for dinner.

For a nano-second I toyed with the idea of buying a pre-made crust but immediately discarded it.  Homemade is better.

And as I was getting ready to chop the beef for the pasties, I saw a pretty good-sized hunk of meatloaf in the ‘fridge.  Waste-not-want-not.  The beef went back in the ‘fridge and I cubed the meatloaf for the pastie.  Came out excellent!  It really was the perfect way to use up leftovers.

I made a full batch of dough and used half to make four pasties.  Victor used the other half to make a tart.

Pastie Dough

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/3 cup pastry/cake flour
  • 2 sticks butter, frozen
  • pinch salt
  • 1/2 cup ice water

Using a food processor, add flours, salt, and sugar. Pulse to mix.

Chop up frozen butter and add. Pulse until butter is incorporated and mixture looks grainy.

Slowly add ice water and pulse until mixed.

Turn out onto counter. Press and form mixture into two disks . Wrap in plastic and refrigerate about an hour to allow the flour to properly absorb the water and to relax the gluten.

 

Pasties

  • 3/4 pound beef, chopped
  • 1-2 medium-sized potatoes, small dice
  • 3 carrots, small dice
  • 3 stalks celery, small dice
  • 1/2 onion, minced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1/2 tsp thyme
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup shredded cheese

Cook vegetables in skillet until almost tender.  Add beef and cook until done.

Add seasonings.  Add heavy cream and heat through.

Remove from heat and add cheese.  Cool.

To assemble:

Divide dough into 4 balls.  Roll each out on floured board to about 8″ circles.  Scoop generous cup onto each round.  Brush edges with beaten egg and fold in half to seal.  Use fork to crimp edges.

Bake in 375° oven 35-45 minutes or until well-browned and heated through.

These really were a lot of fun.  Totally different and perfectly filling.

And speaking of fillings… the possibilities are endless!